From Language Practices among Maroons to Practicing Maroon Languages

Résumé En

The Creoles of Suriname and the Maroon Creoles in particular figure prominently in research on creole genesis, descriptive linguistic research and in formal linguistic approaches to creole grammar. The main reason for their prevalence in this kind of research is that they are widely asumed to be linguistically conservative meaning that they have been subject to little change. This is somewhat surprising for two reasons. First, diachronic research has shown that at least some areas of grammar have undergone change over time due to both contact-induced and internally-motivated change. Second, both Suriname and French Guiana, the countries where most Maroons live, are highly multilingual and in both countries interethnic contact including intermarriage and urbanization are clearly on the rise among all ethnic groups in the region. So are Maroons linguistic isolates in an otherwise multilingual region or are current linguistic descriptions simply abstracting away from heterogeneity due to discipline-internal analytical consideration? In this presentation, we will investigate this question by examing the current sociolinguistic situation of Maroons in the region using data coming from participant observation, interviews and survey of language practices among school children. Our investigation reveals that Maroons are far from monolingual. While language maintenance among Maroons appears to be relatively high compared with other ethnic groups, like members of other ethnic groups, most Maroon children declare speaking two or more languages on a regular basis. Besides their their Maroon variety, they also declare speaking the official language of the country as well as one or more Surinamese Creole varieties. Especially in Suriname, most children declare using Sranan Tongo but also other Maroon languages. With respect to written productions, most children declare being able to write in the official language of the country and to a much lower degree also in Sranan Tongo. Writing in Maroon languages is not very widespread and is not always positively evaluated. The situation is somewhat different with respect to Sranan Tongo-speakers. A great number of children declare using it as an L2 and often report not being allowed to speak it. Negative attitudes towards Sranan Tongo are still quite frequent throughout the population both in Suriname and French Guiana for different reasons. The final part of the presentation will focus on interactional data. We will show that monolingual practices are decreasing and that both code-switching and code-mixing practices are on the rise. Such practices are increasingly leading to perceptual changes: Urban children appear to be less able to distinguish between different Maroon varieties and particularly between Maroon varieties and Sranan Tongo. We will show that this is linked to social changes and identity issues.